Born in Grand Junction, Tennessee,[1][2] Prewitt graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was captain of the Vanderbilt Commodores basketball team.
[1] He served in combat overseas during World War I,[2] and later practiced law in Bolivar, Tennessee, where he "took all kinds of cases to keep eating".
[1] He was appointed as a special judge of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in 1934,[2] and as a special judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1937,[2] and again from April 1941 to March 1942, to assist in the absence of ailing justice W. L.
On February 1, 1960, he was elected chief justice to succeed A.
[1][2] Prewitt served in that capacity until his death due to a heart ailment at the age of 70.